It's time to submit your entry for The American Lawyer's Litigation Departments of the Year, which recognizes top litigation departments in overall excellence, intellectual property, products liability, labor and employment, and insurance.

The American Lawyer's submission period for the biennial Litigation Departments of the Year contest, including the specialty litigation department awards, is now open. Please go here to learn more and submit nominations.

Deadline has been extended to July 16, 2021.

These awards recognize exceptional lawyering across a firm's litigation department, as well as in four specialty categories: IP, products liability, labor and employment, and insurance.

The general litigation department contest has for years honored the absolute best in the industry when it comes to litigation prowess and this year will be no exception. We are looking for firms to share not only their best cases, but a diverse mix of lawyers involved and a clear explanation as to why this work had such an important impact for clients or their industries. Make clear why a client should hire your firm for the highest-stakes matters and how your firm has the talent, ingenuity and creativity to get the toughest jobs done on a regular basis.

We recognize that the past year has been a most unusual one for litigation—and that it will likely change the substance of each firm's entry significantly. If your firm's most significant cases did not lead to results because they were delayed during the pandemic, please tell us about what your litigators did on behalf of clients to respond to their needs and improve their standings.

The specialty categories honor exceptional work in one of the four select practice areas. Again, firms should demonstrate why clients wouldn't want to turn anywhere else when a need in one of those areas arises.

A group of senior editors and reporters from across ALM's newsroom spend hours judging, debating, and interviewing to narrow down to the winners in these categories. We learn more about firms through these submissions than many may realize. I personally look forward to reading about all of the incredible, important work being done across the industry. We thank you for the insight into the impact your firms have on the world and we wish you the best of luck!

The winners will be announced at our annual awards gala in New York December 2. We hope to see you there!

Sincerely,

Gina Passarella, editor-in-chief, The American Lawyer